gold star for USAHOF

293. Bart Oates

In terms of Centers, there are few Professional Football players who can say that they are as successful as Bart Oates.

After being undrafted at BYU in 1983, Oates would join the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL, and he would win championships with them in 1984 and 1985.  When the USFL folded, he signed with the New York Giants, where he would become their starting Center, and was named an All-Rookie.  The following season would see Oates win another title, this time a Super Bowl Ring when the Giants won Super Bowl XXI.  In 1990, Oates and the Giants won another Super Bowl (XXV), but for the first time, he was named to the Pro Bowl.

234. Carl Banks

Drafted 3rd Overall in 1984 from Michigan State, the New York Giants would have a longtime fixture in their Linebacking corps in Carl Banks.  Banks was an All-Rookie Selection, and he would later be named to the Pro Bowl and was a First Team All-Pro in 1987, the year after he was a large part of their Super Bowl XXI win.  Banks would again hoist the Lombardi Trophy high four years later in Super Bowl XXV.

211. Sean Landeta

One of the longest tenured players in NFL history (22 seasons), his career in that league began after going undrafted in 1983 and playing all three seasons of the USFL.  Landeta was chosen for the All-USFL Team, and he would join the New York Giants in 1985, where he would win two Super Bowls, and was named to two Pro Bowls, and three First Team All-Pro rosters.  After the Giants, he would play for the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Green Bay Packers and Philadelphia Eagles, and is one of the few players to be named to two All-Decade Teams (80s & 90s).

69. Ottis Anderson

Ottis Anderson had one of the best rookie seasons ever for a Running Back gaining over 1,600 yards on the ground.  Too bad he did for a bad St. Louis Cardinals team that was barely on the National radar.

Anderson would prove he was not a one-season wonder.  Although he would never again equal his rookie numbers he still posted decent ground numbers and was the highlight of a poor Cardinals team.  As it does in football, injuries piled up and he lost his explosiveness.  Anderson was however reinvented as a short-yardage specialist by the New York Giants and he again accumulated impressive tallies.  He was a natural leader and as he rarely fumbled he was a strong key to the Giants ability to control the ball for extended periods of time.  As a Giant, Ottis Anderson twice won the Super Bowl, capped with an MVP performance in Super Bowl XXV.

97. Phil Simms

Phil Simms is a two-time Super Bowl Winning Quarterback, though many who watched his first five years of play may not have foreseen it.

Simms may have been inconsistent when he began his tenure in the NFL, but something seemed to click in 1984.  It wasn’t just the influx of talent to the Giants roster, as it was at this time that Simms became their leader and found ways to win.  He wasn’t the quickest or the hardest thrower, but he became a winner and most important he had the belief and trust of his teammates; something that not every Quarterback had.  Because of the Giants stellar defense, many have said that Simms only had to manage the game, but those who played with him always praised his high football I.Q. and his leadership skills.